Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Movie
When I got Borat in the mail, there is one thing I noticed. The dvd cover is not in English!! When I opened the case it looked like the disc was a bootleg copy! This has got to be the greatest idea yet. It so fits with the menus on the DVD and the whole theme of the movie. Fox has done an excellent job on the packaging and it made me laugh even before I put the disc in the player. I was really not sure what to expect when I went to watch this movie. Sure I had seen clips here and there, and they were pretty funny, but could they extend this into a feature film? First I thought I should talk about the menus on the DVD. They look terrible and are barely in English, but that’s the point. It adds to the whole bootleg feel. The movie is about Borat’s trip to
America
to report on the “greatest country in the world.” He takes a documentary film crew with him, but he ends up being more interested in locating Pamela Anderson than completing his assignment. I have to say this movie is funny and disgusting at the same time. Having to watch a naked wrestling match with his overweight producer is funny, but again disgusting. What I find hilarious are people’s reactions to him. Most people do not know who he is and therefore think he is a nutcase. The movie is more a documentary on the observations of human behavior. So if you can handle some of the crude nature of the humor, you’re in for a wild ride that will have you talking like Borat by the end of the film.
8.5 out of 10
Video
Borat is presented in its original aspect ration of 1:85:1. The transfer on this DVD is definitely not going to win any awards for best transfer of the year, but I think it’s definitely passable. You’re not buying this DVD for its transfer. But most people will not be able to find much fault with it. That being said, if you’re blowing this up on your 46” plasma you may end up seing some pixilation in some scenes.
6 out of 10
Audio
The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and does a good job of bringing the movie to life. This is a comedy, so don’t expect anything mind blowing in the audio department. But scenes such as the rodeo or when he taking his first driving lesson come across nice and clear. Sometimes the music is louder than it should be, but this is mostly for comic effect.
8 out of 10
Extras
I am pretty sure they will end up releasing a 2 disc edition in the future. So there is not a lot here in the extras. There are deleted scenes, a global PR tour and a music infomercial. The deleted scenes were really funny. I especially liked where he went to adopt a dog and then proceeded to inquire how he could eat it. On the whole the deleted material is pretty funny. The PR tour is basically a montage of appearances leading up to the release of the film. There are appearances on Conan and with Jay Leno. Plus there is a lot of footage from premiers of the movie. The music informercial is pretty funny as well. The one thing I would have liked to have seen was an audio commentary. It would be interesting to see how they got around legal battles that I am sure came from some of the sequences in the film.
6 out of 10
